
hledger(1)                   hledger User Manuals                   hledger(1)



NAME
       hledger - a command-line accounting tool

SYNOPSIS
       hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGS]
       hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [ARGS]
       hledger

DESCRIPTION
       hledger  is  a  cross-platform program for tracking money, time, or any
       other commodity, using double-entry accounting and a  simple,  editable
       file  format.   hledger  is  inspired  by  and  largely compatible with
       ledger(1).
       Tested on unix, mac, windows, hledger aims to be a reliable,  practical
       tool for daily use.

       This is hledger's command-line interface (there are also curses and web
       interfaces).  Its basic function is to read a plain text file  describ-
       ing financial transactions (in accounting terms, a general journal) and
       print useful reports  on  standard  output,  or  export  them  as  CSV.
       hledger can also read some other file formats such as CSV files, trans-
       lating them to  journal  format.   Additionally,  hledger  lists  other
       hledger-*  executables found in the user's $PATH and can invoke them as
       subcommands.

       hledger reads data from one or more files  in  hledger  journal,  time-
       clock,  timedot,  or  CSV format specified with -f, or $LEDGER_FILE, or
       $HOME/.hledger.journal          (on          windows,           perhaps
       C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).  If using $LEDGER_FILE, note this must
       be a real environment variable, not a shell variable.  You can  specify
       standard input with -f-.

       Transactions  are  dated movements of money between two (or more) named
       accounts, and are recorded with journal entries like this:

              2015/10/16 bought food
               expenses:food          $10
               assets:cash

       For more about this format, see hledger_journal(5).

       Most users use a text editor to edit the journal, usually with an  edi-
       tor mode such as ledger-mode for added convenience.  hledger's interac-
       tive add command is another way to record  new  transactions.   hledger
       never changes existing transactions.

       To  get  started,  you  can  either save some entries like the above in
       ~/.hledger.journal, or run hledger add and follow  the  prompts.   Then
       try  some  commands like hledger print or hledger balance.  Run hledger
       with no arguments for a list of commands.

EXAMPLES
       Two simple transactions in hledger journal format:

              2015/9/30 gift received
                assets:cash   $20
                income:gifts

              2015/10/16 farmers market
                expenses:food    $10
                assets:cash

       Some basic reports:

              $ hledger print
              2015/09/30 gift received
                  assets:cash            $20
                  income:gifts          $-20

              2015/10/16 farmers market
                  expenses:food           $10
                  assets:cash            $-10

              $ hledger accounts --tree
              assets
                cash
              expenses
                food
              income
                gifts

              $ hledger balance
                               $10  assets:cash
                               $10  expenses:food
                              $-20  income:gifts
              --------------------
                                 0

              $ hledger register cash
              2015/09/30 gift received   assets:cash               $20           $20
              2015/10/16 farmers market  assets:cash              $-10           $10

       More commands:

              $ hledger                                 # show available commands
              $ hledger add                             # add more transactions to the journal file
              $ hledger balance                         # all accounts with aggregated balances
              $ hledger balance --help                  # show detailed help for balance command
              $ hledger balance --depth 1               # only top-level accounts
              $ hledger register                        # show account postings, with running total
              $ hledger reg income                      # show postings to/from income accounts
              $ hledger reg 'assets:some bank:checking' # show postings to/from this checking account
              $ hledger print desc:shop                 # show transactions with shop in the description
              $ hledger activity -W                     # show transaction counts per week as a bar chart

OPTIONS
   General options
       To see general usage help, including general  options  which  are  sup-
       ported  by  most hledger commands, run hledger -h.  (Note -h and --help
       are different, like git.)

       General help options:

       -h     show general usage (or after COMMAND, command usage)

       --help show this program's manual as plain text  (or  after  an  add-on
              COMMAND, the add-on's manual)

       --man  show this program's manual with man

       --info show this program's manual with info

       --version
              show version

       --debug[=N]
              show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)

       General input options:

       -f FILE --file=FILE
              use  a  different  input  file.   For  stdin,  use  -  (default:
              $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal)

       --rules-file=RULESFILE
              Conversion  rules  file  to  use  when  reading  CSV   (default:
              FILE.rules)

       --alias=OLD=NEW
              rename accounts named OLD to NEW

       --anon anonymize accounts and payees

       --pivot TAGNAME
              use some other field/tag for account names

       -I --ignore-assertions
              ignore any failing balance assertions

       General reporting options:

       -b --begin=DATE
              include postings/txns on or after this date

       -e --end=DATE
              include postings/txns before this date

       -D --daily
              multiperiod/multicolumn report by day

       -W --weekly
              multiperiod/multicolumn report by week

       -M --monthly
              multiperiod/multicolumn report by month

       -Q --quarterly
              multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter

       -Y --yearly
              multiperiod/multicolumn report by year

       -p --period=PERIODEXP
              set  start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once
              (overrides the flags above)

       --date2
              show, and match with -b/-e/-p/date:, secondary dates instead

       -C --cleared
              include only cleared postings/txns

       --pending
              include only pending postings/txns

       -U --uncleared
              include only uncleared (and pending) postings/txns

       -R --real
              include only non-virtual postings

       --depth=N
              hide accounts/postings deeper than N

       -E --empty
              show items with zero amount, normally hidden

       -B --cost
              convert amounts to their cost at  transaction  time  (using  the
              transaction price, if any)

       -V --value
              convert  amounts  to  their  market value on the report end date
              (using the most recent applicable market price, if any)

       Note when multiple similar reporting options are provided, the last one
       takes precedence.  Eg -p feb -p mar is equivalent to -p mar.

       Some of these can also be written as queries.

   Command options
       To  see  options  for  a particular command, including command-specific
       options, run: hledger COMMAND -h.

       Command-specific options must be written after the  command  name,  eg:
       hledger print -x.

       Additionally,  if  the  command  is  an  addon, you may need to put its
       options after a double-hyphen, eg: hledger ui -- --watch.  Or, you  can
       run the addon executable directly: hledger-ui --watch.

   Command arguments
       Most  hledger  commands  accept arguments after the command name, which
       are often a query, filtering the data in some way.

   Special characters
       Option and argument values which contain problematic characters  should
       be  escaped  with  double quotes, backslashes, or (best) single quotes.
       Problematic characters means spaces, and also characters which are sig-
       nificant  to  your  command shell, such as less-than/greater-than.  Eg:
       hledger register -p 'last year' "accounts receivable (receiv-
       able|payable)" amt:\>100.

       Characters  which  are  significant  both  to  the shell and in regular
       expressions sometimes need to be double-escaped.  These include  paren-
       theses,  the  pipe symbol and the dollar sign.  Eg, to match the dollar
       symbol, bash users should do: hledger balance cur:'\$' or  hledger bal-
       ance cur:\\$.

       There's  more..   options  and arguments get de-escaped when hledger is
       passing them to an addon executable.   In  this  case  you  might  need
       triple-escaping.  Eg: hledger ui cur:'\\$' or hledger ui cur:\\\\$.

       If in doubt, keep things simple:

       o run add-on executables directly

       o write options after the command

       o enclose problematic args in single quotes

       o if needed, also add a backslash to escape regexp metacharacters

       If you're really stumped, add --debug=2 to troubleshoot.

   Input files
       hledger reads transactions from a data file (and the add command writes
       to it).  By default this file is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or on Windows,
       something  like C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).  You can override this
       with the $LEDGER_FILE environment variable:

              $ setenv LEDGER_FILE ~/finance/2016.journal
              $ hledger stats

       or with the -f/--file option:

              $ hledger -f /some/file stats

       The file name - (hyphen) means standard input:

              $ cat some.journal | hledger -f-

       Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it  can  also
       be  one  of  several  other formats, listed below.  hledger detects the
       format automatically based on the file extension, or  if  that  is  not
       recognised, by trying each built-in "reader" in turn:


       Reader:       Reads:                              Used for file extensions:
       -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       journal       hledger's  journal  format,  also   .journal    .j    .hledger
                     some Ledger journals                .ledger
       timeclock     timeclock   files  (precise  time   .timeclock
                     logging)
       timedot       timedot files  (approximate  time   .timedot
                     logging)
       csv           comma-separated    values   (data   .csv
                     interchange)

       If needed (eg to ensure correct error messages  when  a  file  has  the
       "wrong"  extension), you can force a specific reader/format by prepend-
       ing it to the file path with a colon.  Examples:

              $ hledger -f csv:/some/csv-file.dat stats
              $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -ftimeclock:-

       You can also specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one
       big journal.  There are some limitations with this:

       o directives in one file will not affect the other files

       o balance  assertions  will  not see any account balances from previous
         files

       If you need those, either use the include directive, or concatenate the
       files, eg: cat a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD.

   Smart dates
       hledger's user interfaces accept a flexible "smart date" syntax (unlike
       dates in the journal file).  Smart dates allow some english words,  can
       be  relative  to today's date, and can have less-significant date parts
       omitted (defaulting to 1).

       Examples:


       2009/1/1,      2009/01/01,   simple dates, several sep-
       2009-1-1, 2009.1.1           arators allowed
       2009/1, 2009                 same as above - a  missing
                                    day or month defaults to 1
       1/1,     january,     jan,   relative   dates,  meaning
       this year                    january 1 of  the  current
                                    year
       next year                    january 1 of next year
       this month                   the  1st  of  the  current
                                    month
       this week                    the most recent monday
       last week                    the  monday  of  the  week
                                    before this one
       lastweek                     spaces are optional
       today, yesterday, tomorrow

   Report start & end date
       Most hledger reports show the full span  of  time  represented  by  the
       journal data, by default.  So, the effective report start and end dates
       will be the earliest and latest transaction or posting dates  found  in
       the journal.

       Often  you  will  want  to see a shorter time span, such as the current
       month.  You can specify a  start  and/or  end  date  using  -b/--begin,
       -e/--end, -p/--period or a date: query (described below).  All of these
       accept the smart date syntax.  One important thing to be aware of  when
       specifying  end  dates:  as  in Ledger, end dates are exclusive, so you
       need to write the date after the last day you want to include.

       Examples:


       -b 2016/3/17      begin  on  St.   Patrick's
                         day 2016
       -e 12/1           end at the start of decem-
                         ber  1st  of  the  current
                         year  (11/30  will  be the
                         last date included)
       -b thismonth      all  transactions  on   or
                         after  the 1st of the cur-
                         rent month
       -p thismonth      all  transactions  in  the
                         current month
       date:2016/3/17-   the   above   written   as
                         queries instead
       date:-12/1
       date:thismonth-
       date:thismonth

   Report intervals
       A report interval can be specified so that commands like register, bal-
       ance  and  activity will divide their reports into multiple subperiods.
       The  basic  intervals  can  be  selected  with   one   of   -D/--daily,
       -W/--weekly,  -M/--monthly,  -Q/--quarterly, or -Y/--yearly.  More com-
       plex intervals may be  specified  with  a  period  expression.   Report
       intervals can not be specified with a query, currently.

   Period expressions
       The  -p/--period  option accepts period expressions, a shorthand way of
       expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval all at  once.

       Here's  a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009.
       Note, hledger always treats start dates as inclusive and end  dates  as
       exclusive:

       -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"

       Keywords  like  "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces, as
       long as you don't run two dates together.  "to" can also be written  as
       "-".  These are equivalent to the above:


       -p "2009/1/1 2009/4/1"
       -p2009/1/1to2009/4/1
       -p2009/1/1-2009/4/1

       Dates  are  smart  dates, so if the current year is 2009, the above can
       also be written as:


       -p "1/1 4/1"
       -p "january-apr"
       -p "this year to 4/1"

       If you specify only one date, the missing start or end date will be the
       earliest or latest transaction in your journal:


       -p "from 2009/1/1"   everything  after  january
                            1, 2009
       -p "from 2009/1"     the same
       -p "from 2009"       the same
       -p "to 2009"         everything before  january
                            1, 2009

       A  single  date  with  no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end
       date like so:


       -p "2009"       the year 2009;  equivalent
                       to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1"
       -p "2009/1"     the  month of jan; equiva-
                       lent   to   "2009/1/1   to
                       2009/2/1"
       -p "2009/1/1"   just  that day; equivalent
                       to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2"

       The argument of -p can also  begin  with,  or  be,  a  report  interval
       expression.   The  basic  report  intervals are daily, weekly, monthly,
       quarterly, or yearly, which have the same effect as the -D,-W,-M,-Q, or
       -Y  flags.   Between  report interval and start/end dates (if any), the
       word in is optional.  Examples:


       -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
       -p "monthly in 2008"
       -p "quarterly"

       The  following  more  complex  report  intervals  are  also  supported:
       biweekly,      bimonthly,     every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years,
       every Nth day [of month], every Nth day of week.

       Examples:


       -p "bimonthly from 2008"
       -p "every 2 weeks"
       -p "every 5 days from 1/3"

       Show historical balances at end of 15th each month (N is exclusive  end
       date):

       hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day"

       Group  postings  from  start  of wednesday to end of next tuesday (N is
       start date and exclusive end date):

       hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week"

   Depth limiting
       With the --depth N option, commands like account, balance and  register
       will  show  only  the  uppermost  accounts in the account tree, down to
       level N.  Use this when you want a summary with less detail.

   Pivoting
       Normally hledger sums amounts, and organizes them in a hierarchy, based
       on account name.  The --pivot TAGNAME option causes it to sum and orga-
       nize hierarchy based on some other field instead.

       TAGNAME is the full, case-insensitive name of a tag you  have  defined,
       or  one  of  the  built-in implicit tags (like code or payee).  As with
       account names,  when  tag  values  have  multiple:colon-separated:parts
       hledger will build hierarchy, displayed in tree-mode reports, summaris-
       able with a depth limit, and so on.

       --pivot is a general option affecting all reports;  you  can  think  of
       hledger transforming the journal before any other processing, replacing
       every posting's account name with the value of  the  specified  tag  on
       that posting, inheriting it from the transaction or using a blank value
       if it's not present.

       An example:

              2016/02/16 Member Fee Payment
                  assets:bank account                    2 EUR
                  income:member fees                    -2 EUR  ; member: John Doe

       Normal balance report showing account names:

              $ hledger balance
                             2 EUR  assets:bank account
                            -2 EUR  income:member fees
              --------------------
                                 0

       Pivoted balance report, using member: tag values instead:

              $ hledger balance --pivot member
                             2 EUR
                            -2 EUR  John Doe
              --------------------
                                 0

       One way to show only amounts with  a  member:  value  (using  a  query,
       described below):

              $ hledger balance --pivot member tag:member=.
                            -2 EUR  John Doe
              --------------------
                            -2 EUR

       Another  way  (the  acct:  query  matches  against the pivoted "account
       name"):

              $ hledger balance --pivot member acct:.
                            -2 EUR  John Doe
              --------------------
                            -2 EUR

   Regular expressions
       hledger uses regular expressions in a number of places:

       o query terms, on the command line and in the hledger-web search  form:
         REGEX, desc:REGEX, cur:REGEX, tag:...=REGEX

       o CSV rules conditional blocks: if REGEX ...

       o account  alias  directives  and options: alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT,
         --alias /REGEX/=REPLACEMENT

       hledger's regular expressions come from  the  regex-tdfa  library.   In
       general they:

       o are case insensitive

       o are  infix  matching  (do  not  need  to match the entire thing being
         matched)

       o are POSIX extended regular expressions

       o also support GNU word boundaries (\<, \>, \b, \B)

       o and parenthesised capturing  groups  and  numeric  backreferences  in
         replacement strings

       o do not support mode modifiers like (?s)

       Some things to note:

       o In  the  alias directive and --alias option, regular expressions must
         be enclosed in forward  slashes  (/REGEX/).   Elsewhere  in  hledger,
         these are not required.

       o In  queries,  to match a regular expression metacharacter like $ as a
         literal character, prepend a backslash.  Eg  to  search  for  amounts
         with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$.

       o On  the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special mean-
         ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more.  See Spe-
         cial characters.

QUERIES
       One  of  hledger's strengths is being able to quickly report on precise
       subsets of your data.  Most commands accept an optional  query  expres-
       sion,  written  as arguments after the command name, to filter the data
       by date, account name or other criteria.  The syntax is  similar  to  a
       web search: one or more space-separated search terms, quotes to enclose
       whitespace, optional  prefixes  to  match  specific  fields.   Multiple
       search terms are combined as follows:

       All  commands  except  print: show transactions/postings/accounts which
       match (or negatively match)

       o any of the description terms AND

       o any of the account terms AND

       o all the other terms.

       The print command: show transactions which

       o match any of the description terms AND

       o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND

       o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND

       o match all the other terms.

       The following kinds of search terms can be used:

       REGEX  match account names by this regular expression

       acct:REGEX
              same as above

       amt:N, amt:<N, amt:<=N, amt:>N, amt:>=N
              match postings with a single-commodity amount that is equal  to,
              less  than, or greater than N.  (Multi-commodity amounts are not
              tested, and will always match.) The comparison has two modes: if
              N is preceded by a + or - sign (or is 0), the two signed numbers
              are compared.  Otherwise, the absolute magnitudes are  compared,
              ignoring sign.

       code:REGEX
              match by transaction code (eg check number)

       cur:REGEX
              match  postings or transactions including any amounts whose cur-
              rency/commodity symbol is fully matched by REGEX.  (For  a  par-
              tial match, use .*REGEX.*).  Note, to match characters which are
              regex-significant, like the dollar sign ($), you need to prepend
              \.   And  when  using  the command line you need to add one more
              level  of  quoting  to  hide  it  from  the  shell,  so  eg  do:
              hledger print cur:'\$' or hledger print cur:\\$.

       desc:REGEX
              match transaction descriptions

       date:PERIODEXPR
              match dates within the specified period.  PERIODEXPR is a period
              expression (with  no  report  interval).   Examples:  date:2016,
              date:thismonth,   date:2000/2/1-2/15,  date:lastweek-.   If  the
              --date2 command line flag is  present,  this  matches  secondary
              dates instead.

       date2:PERIODEXPR
              match secondary dates within the specified period.

       depth:N
              match  (or  display,  depending on command) accounts at or above
              this depth

       real:, real:0
              match real or virtual postings respectively

       status:*, status:!, status:
              match  cleared,  pending,  or   uncleared/pending   transactions
              respectively

       tag:REGEX[=REGEX]
              match  by  tag  name,  and optionally also by tag value.  Note a
              tag: query is considered to match a transaction  if  it  matches
              any  of  the  postings.  Also remember that postings inherit the
              tags of their parent transaction.

       not:   before any of the above negates the match.

       inacct:ACCTNAME
              a special term used automatically when you click an account name
              in hledger-web, specifying the account register we are currently
              in (selects the transactions of that account  and  how  to  show
              them,  can  be  filtered  further with acct etc).  Not supported
              elsewhere in hledger.

       Some of these can also be expressed as command-line options (eg depth:2
       is  equivalent  to --depth 2).  Generally you can mix options and query
       arguments, and the resulting query will be their intersection  (perhaps
       excluding the -p/--period option).

COMMANDS
       hledger  provides  a  number  of subcommands; hledger with no arguments
       shows a list.

       If you install additional hledger-* packages, or if you put programs or
       scripts  named  hledger-NAME in your PATH, these will also be listed as
       subcommands.

       Run  a  subcommand  by  writing  its  name  as   first   argument   (eg
       hledger incomestatement).  You can also write any unambiguous prefix of
       a command name (hledger inc), or one of the standard short aliases dis-
       played in the command list (hledger is).

   accounts
       Show account names.

       --tree show short account names, as a tree

       --flat show full account names, as a list (default)

       --drop=N
              in flat mode: omit N leading account name parts

       This  command  lists  all  account  names  that are in use (ie, all the
       accounts which have at least one transaction posting  to  them).   With
       query arguments, only matched account names are shown.

       It  shows  a flat list by default.  With --tree, it uses indentation to
       show the account hierarchy.

       In flat mode you can add --drop N to omit the first  few  account  name
       components.

       Examples:

              $ hledger accounts --tree
              assets
                bank
                  checking
                  saving
                cash
              expenses
                food
                supplies
              income
                gifts
                salary
              liabilities
                debts

              $ hledger accounts --drop 1
              bank:checking
              bank:saving
              cash
              food
              supplies
              gifts
              salary
              debts

              $ hledger accounts
              assets:bank:checking
              assets:bank:saving
              assets:cash
              expenses:food
              expenses:supplies
              income:gifts
              income:salary
              liabilities:debts

   activity
       Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.

       The  activity  command  displays an ascii histogram showing transaction
       counts by day, week, month or other reporting interval (by day  is  the
       default).  With query arguments, it counts only matched transactions.

              $ hledger activity --quarterly
              2008-01-01 **
              2008-04-01 *******
              2008-07-01
              2008-10-01 **

   add
       Prompt for transactions and add them to the journal.

       --no-new-accounts
              don't  allow  creating  new  accounts;  helps prevent typos when
              entering account names

       Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor,  or
       generate  them from CSV.  For more interactive data entry, there is the
       add command, which prompts interactively on the console for new  trans-
       actions,  and  appends  them to the journal file (if there are multiple
       -f FILE options, the first file is used.) Existing transactions are not
       changed.   This  is the only hledger command that writes to the journal
       file.

       To use it, just run hledger add and follow the prompts.  You can add as
       many  transactions as you like; when you are finished, enter . or press
       control-d or control-c to exit.

       Features:

       o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most  similar  recent
         transaction (by description) as a template.

       o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.

       o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry.

       o The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts, descrip-
         tions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow).   If  the  input  area  is
         empty, it will insert the default value.

       o If  the  journal defines a default commodity, it will be added to any
         bare numbers entered.

       o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date.

       o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount.

       o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to restart the  transac-
         tion.

       o Input  prompts  are displayed in a different colour when the terminal
         supports it.

       Example (see the tutorial for a detailed explanation):

              $ hledger add
              Adding transactions to journal file /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal
              Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
              Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
              An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
              An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
              If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to restart the transaction.
              To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
              To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
              Date [2015/05/22]:
              Description: supermarket
              Account 1: expenses:food
              Amount  1: $10
              Account 2: assets:checking
              Amount  2 [$-10.0]:
              Account 3 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
              2015/05/22 supermarket
                  expenses:food             $10
                  assets:checking        $-10.0

              Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]:
              Saved.
              Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
              Date [2015/05/22]: <CTRL-D> $

   balance
       Show accounts and their balances.  Alias: bal.

       --change
              show balance change in each period (default)

       --cumulative
              show balance change accumulated across periods  (in  multicolumn
              reports)

       -H --historical
              show historical ending balance in each period (includes postings
              before report start date)

       --tree show accounts as a tree; amounts include subaccounts (default in
              simple reports)

       --flat show accounts as a list; amounts exclude subaccounts except when
              account is depth-clipped (default in multicolumn reports)

       -A --average
              show a row average column (in multicolumn mode)

       -T --row-total
              show a row total column (in multicolumn mode)

       -N --no-total
              don't show the final total row

       --drop=N
              omit N leading account name parts (in flat mode)

       --no-elide
              don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)

       --format=LINEFORMAT
              in single-column balance reports: use this custom line format

       -O FMT --output-format=FMT
              select the output format.  Supported formats: txt, csv.

       -o FILE --output-file=FILE
              write output to FILE.  A file  extension  matching  one  of  the
              above formats selects that format.

       --pretty-tables
              Use unicode to display prettier tables.

       The  balance  command  displays accounts and balances.  It is hledger's
       most featureful and most useful command.

              $ hledger balance
                               $-1  assets
                                $1    bank:saving
                               $-2    cash
                                $2  expenses
                                $1    food
                                $1    supplies
                               $-2  income
                               $-1    gifts
                               $-1    salary
                                $1  liabilities:debts
              --------------------
                                 0

       More precisely, the balance command shows the change to each  account's
       balance caused by all (matched) postings.  In the common case where you
       do not filter by date and your journal sets the  correct  opening  bal-
       ances, this is the same as the account's ending balance.

       By  default,  accounts  are  displayed hierarchically, with subaccounts
       indented below their parent.  "Boring" accounts, which contain a single
       interesting subaccount and no balance of their own, are elided into the
       following line for more compact output.   (Use  --no-elide  to  prevent
       this.)

       Each  account's  balance  is  the "inclusive" balance - it includes the
       balances of any subaccounts.

       Accounts which have zero balance  (and  no  non-zero  subaccounts)  are
       omitted.  Use -E/--empty to show them.

       A  final  total  is displayed by default; use -N/--no-total to suppress
       it:

              $ hledger balance -p 2008/6 expenses --no-total
                                $2  expenses
                                $1    food
                                $1    supplies

   Flat mode
       To see a flat list of full account names instead of the default hierar-
       chical   display,   use   --flat.    In  this  mode,  accounts  (unless
       depth-clipped) show their "exclusive" balance, excluding any subaccount
       balances.   In  this  mode, you can also use --drop N to omit the first
       few account name components.

              $ hledger balance -p 2008/6 expenses -N --flat --drop 1
                                $1  food
                                $1  supplies

   Depth limited balance reports
       With --depth N, balance shows accounts only  to  the  specified  depth.
       This  is  very  useful  to  show  a  complex charts of accounts in less
       detail.  In flat mode, balances from accounts  below  the  depth  limit
       will be shown as part of a parent account at the depth limit.

              $ hledger balance -N --depth 1
                               $-1  assets
                                $2  expenses
                               $-2  income
                                $1  liabilities

   Multicolumn balance reports
       With  a reporting interval, multiple balance columns will be shown, one
       for each report period.  There are three types of multi-column  balance
       report, showing different information:

       1. By default: each column shows the sum of postings in that period, ie
          the account's change of balance in that period.  This is  useful  eg
          for a monthly income statement:

                  $ hledger balance --quarterly income expenses -E
                  Balance changes in 2008:

                                     ||  2008q1  2008q2  2008q3  2008q4
                  ===================++=================================
                   expenses:food     ||       0      $1       0       0
                   expenses:supplies ||       0      $1       0       0
                   income:gifts      ||       0     $-1       0       0
                   income:salary     ||     $-1       0       0       0
                  -------------------++---------------------------------
                                     ||     $-1      $1       0       0

       2. With  --cumulative:  each  column  shows the ending balance for that
          period, accumulating the changes across periods, starting from 0  at
          the report start date:

                  $ hledger balance --quarterly income expenses -E --cumulative
                  Ending balances (cumulative) in 2008:

                                     ||  2008/03/31  2008/06/30  2008/09/30  2008/12/31
                  ===================++=================================================
                   expenses:food     ||           0          $1          $1          $1
                   expenses:supplies ||           0          $1          $1          $1
                   income:gifts      ||           0         $-1         $-1         $-1
                   income:salary     ||         $-1         $-1         $-1         $-1
                  -------------------++-------------------------------------------------
                                     ||         $-1           0           0           0

       3. With --historical/-H: each column shows the actual historical ending
          balance for that period, accumulating the  changes  across  periods,
          starting  from the actual balance at the report start date.  This is
          useful eg for a multi-period balance sheet, and when you are showing
          only the data after a certain start date:

                  $ hledger balance ^assets ^liabilities --quarterly --historical --begin 2008/4/1
                  Ending balances (historical) in 2008/04/01-2008/12/31:

                                        ||  2008/06/30  2008/09/30  2008/12/31
                  ======================++=====================================
                   assets:bank:checking ||          $1          $1           0
                   assets:bank:saving   ||          $1          $1          $1
                   assets:cash          ||         $-2         $-2         $-2
                   liabilities:debts    ||           0           0          $1
                  ----------------------++-------------------------------------
                                        ||           0           0           0

       Multi-column  balance reports display accounts in flat mode by default;
       to see the hierarchy, use --tree.

       With  a  reporting  interval  (like  --quarterly  above),  the   report
       start/end  dates  will  be adjusted if necessary so that they encompass
       the displayed report periods.  This is so that the first and last peri-
       ods will be "full" and comparable to the others.

       The  -E/--empty  flag  does  two things in multicolumn balance reports:
       first, the report will show all columns  within  the  specified  report
       period  (without  -E,  leading and trailing columns with all zeroes are
       not shown).  Second, all accounts which existed  at  the  report  start
       date  will  be  considered,  not just the ones with activity during the
       report period (use -E to include low-activity accounts which would oth-
       erwise would be omitted).

       The -T/--row-total flag adds an additional column showing the total for
       each row.

       The -A/--average flag adds a column showing the average value  in  each
       row.

       Here's an example of all three:

              $ hledger balance -Q income expenses --tree -ETA
              Balance changes in 2008:

                          ||  2008q1  2008q2  2008q3  2008q4    Total  Average
              ============++===================================================
               expenses   ||       0      $2       0       0       $2       $1
                 food     ||       0      $1       0       0       $1        0
                 supplies ||       0      $1       0       0       $1        0
               income     ||     $-1     $-1       0       0      $-2      $-1
                 gifts    ||       0     $-1       0       0      $-1        0
                 salary   ||     $-1       0       0       0      $-1        0
              ------------++---------------------------------------------------
                          ||     $-1      $1       0       0        0        0

              # Average is rounded to the dollar here since all journal amounts are

   Market value
       The -V/--value flag converts the reported amounts to their market value
       on the report end date, using the most recent applicable market prices,
       when  known.   Specifically, when there is a market price (P directive)
       for the amount's commodity, dated on or before the report end date (see
       hledger  ->  Report  start & end date), the amount will be converted to
       the price's commodity.  If multiple applicable prices are defined,  the
       latest-dated one is used (and if dates are equal, the one last parsed).

       For example:

              # one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1
              P 2016/11/01  $1.10

              # purchase some euros on nov 3
              2016/11/3
                  assets:euros        100
                  assets:checking

              # the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21
              P 2016/12/21  $1.03

       How many euros do I have ?

              $ hledger -f t.j bal euros
                              100  assets:euros

       What are they worth on nov 3 ?  (no report end date specified, defaults
       to the last date in the journal)

              $ hledger -f t.j bal euros -V
                           $110.00  assets:euros

       What are they worth on dec 21 ?

              $ hledger -f t.j bal euros -V -e 2016/12/21
                           $103.00  assets:euros

       Currently,  hledger's -V only uses market prices recorded with P direc-
       tives, not transaction prices (unlike Ledger).

       Using -B and -V together is allowed.

   Custom balance output
       In simple (non-multi-column) balance reports,  you  can  customise  the
       output with --format FMT:

              $ hledger balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)"
                            assets          $-1
                       bank:saving           $1
                              cash          $-2
                          expenses           $2
                              food           $1
                          supplies           $1
                            income          $-2
                             gifts          $-1
                            salary          $-1
                 liabilities:debts           $1
              ---------------------------------
                                              0

       The FMT format string (plus a newline) specifies the formatting applied
       to each account/balance pair.  It may contain any suitable  text,  with
       data fields interpolated like so:

       %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)

       o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional)

       o MAX truncates at this width (optional)

       o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of:

         o depth_spacer  - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth, or
           if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces.

         o account - the account's name

         o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified

       Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control  how  multi-com-
       modity amounts are rendered:

       o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default)

       o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned

       o %, - render on one line, comma-separated

       There  are  some  quirks.   Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no
       effect, instead %(account) has indentation built in.
        Experimentation may be needed to get pleasing results.

       Some example formats:

       o %(total) - the account's total

       o %-20.20(account) - the account's name, left justified, padded  to  20
         characters and clipped at 20 characters

       o %,%-50(account)  %25(total)  -  account name padded to 50 characters,
         total padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered  on
         one line

       o %20(total)  %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)  - the default format for the
         single-column balance report

   Output destination
       The balance, print, register and stats commands can write their  output
       to  a  destination  other  than the console.  This is controlled by the
       -o/--output-file option.

              $ hledger balance -o -     # write to stdout (the default)
              $ hledger balance -o FILE  # write to FILE

   CSV output
       The balance, print and register commands can write their output as CSV.
       This  is  useful  for  exporting data to other applications, eg to make
       charts in a spreadsheet.  This is controlled by the  -O/--output-format
       option, or by specifying a .csv file extension with -o/--output-file.

              $ hledger balance -O csv       # write CSV to stdout
              $ hledger balance -o FILE.csv  # write CSV to FILE.csv

   balancesheet
       Show a balance sheet.  Alias: bs.

       --change
              show balance change in each period, instead of historical ending
              balances

       --cumulative
              show balance change accumulated across periods  (in  multicolumn
              reports), instead of historical ending balances

       -H --historical
              show historical ending balance in each period (includes postings
              before report start date) (default)

       --tree show accounts as a tree; amounts include subaccounts (default in
              simple reports)

       --flat show accounts as a list; amounts exclude subaccounts except when
              account is depth-clipped (default in multicolumn reports)

       -A --average
              show a row average column (in multicolumn mode)

       -T --row-total
              show a row total column (in multicolumn mode)

       -N --no-total
              don't show the final total row

       --drop=N
              omit N leading account name parts (in flat mode)

       --no-elide
              don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)

       --format=LINEFORMAT
              in single-column balance reports: use this custom line format

       This command displays a simple balance  sheet.   It  currently  assumes
       that  you  have  top-level  accounts  named asset and liability (plural
       forms also allowed.)

              $ hledger balancesheet
              Balance Sheet

              Assets:
                               $-1  assets
                                $1    bank:saving
                               $-2    cash
              --------------------
                               $-1

              Liabilities:
                                $1  liabilities:debts
              --------------------
                                $1

              Total:
              --------------------
                                 0

       If given a period flag, renders a multi-column balance  with  the  same
       format  as balance, with asset and liability totals as well as an over-
       all total if desired.

       This command shows normally historical  end-balance  reports,  but  for
       flexibility,  also accepts --cumulative and --change to display cumula-
       tive ending balances and changes in reporting periods.

   cashflow
       Show a cashflow statement.  Alias: cf.

       --change
              show balance change in each period (default)

       --cumulative
              show balance change accumulated across periods  (in  multicolumn
              reports), instead of changes during periods

       -H --historical
              show historical ending balance in each period (includes postings
              before report start date), instead of changes during each period

       --tree show accounts as a tree; amounts include subaccounts (default in
              simple reports)

       --flat show accounts as a list; amounts exclude subaccounts except when
              account is depth-clipped (default in multicolumn reports)

       -A --average
              show a row average column (in multicolumn mode)

       -T --row-total
              show a row total column (in multicolumn mode)

       -N --no-total
              don't show the final total row (in simple reports)

       --drop=N
              omit N leading account name parts (in flat mode)

       --no-elide
              don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)

       --format=LINEFORMAT
              in single-column balance reports: use this custom line format

       This  command  displays a simple cashflow statement It shows the change
       in all "cash" (ie, liquid assets) accounts for  the  period.   It  cur-
       rently  assumes  that cash accounts are under a top-level account named
       asset and do not contain receivable or A/R (plural forms also allowed.)

              $ hledger cashflow
              Cashflow Statement

              Cash flows:
                               $-1  assets
                                $1    bank:saving
                               $-2    cash
              --------------------
                               $-1

              Total:
              --------------------
                               $-1

       If  given  a  period flag, renders a multi-column balance with the same
       format as balance.

       This command normally shows period change reports, but for flexibility,
       also accepts --cumulative and --historical to display cumulative ending
       balances and historical ending balances, as well.

   help
       Show any of the hledger manuals.

       The help command displays any of the main hledger man  pages.   (Unlike
       hledger --help,  which displays only the hledger man page.) Run it with
       no arguments to list available topics (their names  are  shortened  for
       easier  typing),  and run hledger help TOPIC to select one.  The output
       is similar to a man page, but fixed width.  It may be long, so you  may
       wish to pipe it into a pager.  See also info and man.

              $ hledger help
              Choose a topic, eg: hledger help cli
              cli, ui, web, api, journal, csv, timeclock, timedot

              $ hledger help cli | less

              hledger(1)                   hledger User Manuals                   hledger(1)



              NAME
                     hledger - a command-line accounting tool

              SYNOPSIS
                     hledger [-f FILE] COMMAND [OPTIONS] [CMDARGS]
                     hledger [-f FILE] ADDONCMD -- [OPTIONS] [CMDARGS]
              :

   incomestatement
       Show an income statement.  Alias: is.

       --change
              show balance change in each period (default)

       --cumulative
              show  balance  change accumulated across periods (in multicolumn
              reports), instead of changes during periods

       -H --historical
              show historical ending balance in each period (includes postings
              before report start date), instead of changes during each period

       --tree show accounts as a tree; amounts include subaccounts (default in
              simple reports)

       --flat show accounts as a list; amounts exclude subaccounts except when
              account is depth-clipped (default in multicolumn reports)

       -A --average
              show a row average column (in multicolumn mode)

       -T --row-total
              show a row total column (in multicolumn mode)

       -N --no-total
              don't show the final total row

       --drop=N
              omit N leading account name parts (in flat mode)

       --no-elide
              don't squash boring parent accounts (in tree mode)

       --format=LINEFORMAT
              in single-column balance reports: use this custom line format

       This command displays a simple income statement.  It currently  assumes
       that  you have top-level accounts named income (or revenue) and expense
       (plural forms also allowed.)

              $ hledger incomestatement
              Income Statement

              Revenues:
                               $-2  income
                               $-1    gifts
                               $-1    salary
              --------------------
                               $-2

              Expenses:
                                $2  expenses
                                $1    food
                                $1    supplies
              --------------------
                                $2

              Total:
              --------------------
                                 0

       If given a period flag, renders a multi-column balance  with  the  same
       format as balance.

       This command normally shows period change reports, but for flexibility,
       also accepts --cumulative and --historical to display cumulative ending
       balances and historical ending balances, as well.

   info
       Show any of the hledger manuals using info.

       The  info  command  displays any of the hledger reference manuals using
       the info hypertextual documentation viewer.  This can be a  very  effi-
       cient  way  to browse large manuals.  It requires the "info" program to
       be available in your PATH.

       As with help, run it with no arguments to list available topics  (manu-
       als).

   man
       Show any of the hledger manuals using man.

       The  man  command  displays  any of the hledger reference manuals using
       man, the standard documentation viewer on unix systems.  This will  fit
       the  text to your terminal width, and probably invoke a pager automati-
       cally.  It requires the "man" program to be available in your PATH.

       As with help, run it with no arguments to list available topics  (manu-
       als).

   print
       Show transactions from the journal.

       -x     --explicit
              show all amounts explicitly

       -m STR --match=STR
              show  the  transaction whose description is most similar to STR,
              and is most recent

       -O FMT --output-format=FMT
              select the output format.  Supported formats: txt, csv.

       -o FILE --output-file=FILE
              write output to FILE.  A file  extension  matching  one  of  the
              above formats selects that format.

              $ hledger print
              2008/01/01 income
                  assets:bank:checking            $1
                  income:salary                  $-1

              2008/06/01 gift
                  assets:bank:checking            $1
                  income:gifts                   $-1

              2008/06/02 save
                  assets:bank:saving              $1
                  assets:bank:checking           $-1

              2008/06/03 * eat & shop
                  expenses:food                $1
                  expenses:supplies            $1
                  assets:cash                 $-2

              2008/12/31 * pay off
                  liabilities:debts               $1
                  assets:bank:checking           $-1

       The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the
       journal file, tidily formatted.

       As of hledger 1.2, print's output is always a  valid  hledger  journal.
       However  it may not preserve all original content, eg it does not print
       directives or inter-transaction comments.

       Normally, transactions' implicit/explicit amount  style  is  preserved:
       when  an  amount  is  omitted in the journal, it will be omitted in the
       output.  You can  use  the  -x/--explicit  flag  to  make  all  amounts
       explicit,  which  can  be useful for troubleshooting or for making your
       journal more readable and robust against data entry errors.   Note,  in
       this  mode  postings  with  a  multi-commodity amount (possible with an
       implicit amount in a multi-commodity transaction) will  be  split  into
       multiple single-commodity postings, for valid journal output.

       With  -B/--cost,  amounts with transaction prices are converted to cost
       (using the transaction price).

       The print command also supports  output  destination  and  CSV  output.
       Here's an example of print's CSV output:

              $ hledger print -Ocsv
              "txnidx","date","date2","status","code","description","comment","account","amount","commodity","credit","debit","posting-status","posting-comment"
              "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","",""
              "1","2008/01/01","","","","income","","income:salary","-1","$","1","","",""
              "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","assets:bank:checking","1","$","","1","",""
              "2","2008/06/01","","","","gift","","income:gifts","-1","$","1","","",""
              "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:saving","1","$","","1","",""
              "3","2008/06/02","","","","save","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","",""
              "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:food","1","$","","1","",""
              "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","expenses:supplies","1","$","","1","",""
              "4","2008/06/03","","*","","eat & shop","","assets:cash","-2","$","2","","",""
              "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","liabilities:debts","1","$","","1","",""
              "5","2008/12/31","","*","","pay off","","assets:bank:checking","-1","$","1","","",""

       o There  is  one  CSV record per posting, with the parent transaction's
         fields repeated.

       o The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong to
         the  same transaction.  (This number might change if transactions are
         reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in  a  different
         order, etc.)

       o The  amount  is  separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount"
         (numeric quantity) fields.

       o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col-
         umn,  for convenience.  (Those names are not accurate in the account-
         ing sense; it just puts negative amounts under  credit  and  zero  or
         greater amounts under debit.)

   register
       Show postings and their running total.  Alias: reg.

       --cumulative
              show running total from report start date (default)

       -H --historical
              show  historical running total/balance (includes postings before
              report start date)

       -A --average
              show  running  average  of  posting  amounts  instead  of  total
              (implies --empty)

       -r --related
              show postings' siblings instead

       -w N --width=N
              set  output  width  (default:  terminal width or COLUMNS.  -wN,M
              sets description width as well)

       -O FMT --output-format=FMT
              select the output format.  Supported formats: txt, csv.

       -o FILE --output-file=FILE
              write output to FILE.  A file  extension  matching  one  of  the
              above formats selects that format.

       The register command displays postings, one per line, and their running
       total.  This is typically used with  a  query  selecting  a  particular
       account, to see that account's activity:

              $ hledger register checking
              2008/01/01 income               assets:bank:checking            $1            $1
              2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1            $2
              2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1            $1
              2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1             0

       The  --historical/-H  flag  adds the balance from any undisplayed prior
       postings to the running total.  This is useful when  you  want  to  see
       only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance:

              $ hledger register checking -b 2008/6 --historical
              2008/06/01 gift                 assets:bank:checking            $1            $2
              2008/06/02 save                 assets:bank:checking           $-1            $1
              2008/12/31 pay off              assets:bank:checking           $-1             0

       The --depth option limits the amount of sub-account detail displayed.

       The  --average/-A flag shows the running average posting amount instead
       of the running total (so, the final number displayed is the average for
       the  whole  report period).  This flag implies --empty (see below).  It
       is affected by --historical.  It  works  best  when  showing  just  one
       account and one commodity.

       The  --related/-r  flag shows the other postings in the transactions of
       the postings which would normally be shown.

       With a reporting interval, register shows  summary  postings,  one  per
       interval, aggregating the postings to each account:

              $ hledger register --monthly income
              2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1           $-1
              2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1           $-2

       Periods  with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount, are
       not shown by default; use the --empty/-E flag to see them:

              $ hledger register --monthly income -E
              2008/01                 income:salary                          $-1           $-1
              2008/02                                                          0           $-1
              2008/03                                                          0           $-1
              2008/04                                                          0           $-1
              2008/05                                                          0           $-1
              2008/06                 income:gifts                           $-1           $-2
              2008/07                                                          0           $-2
              2008/08                                                          0           $-2
              2008/09                                                          0           $-2
              2008/10                                                          0           $-2
              2008/11                                                          0           $-2
              2008/12                                                          0           $-2

       Often, you'll want to see just one  line  per  interval.   The  --depth
       option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated:

              $ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 1h
              2008/01                 assets                                  $1            $1
              2008/06                 assets                                 $-1             0
              2008/12                 assets                                 $-1           $-1

       Note  when using report intervals, if you specify start/end dates these
       will be adjusted outward if necessary to  contain  a  whole  number  of
       intervals.   This  ensures  that  the first and last intervals are full
       length and comparable to the others in the report.

   Custom register output
       register uses the full terminal width by default,  except  on  windows.
       You  can override this by setting the COLUMNS environment variable (not
       a bash shell variable) or by using the --width/-w option.

       The description and account columns normally share  the  space  equally
       (about  half  of  (width  - 40) each).  You can adjust this by adding a
       description width  as  part  of  --width's  argument,  comma-separated:
       --width W,D .  Here's a diagram:

              <--------------------------------- width (W) ---------------------------------->
              date (10)  description (D)       account (W-41-D)     amount (12)   balance (12)
              DDDDDDDDDD dddddddddddddddddddd  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  AAAAAAAAAAAA  AAAAAAAAAAAA

       and some examples:

              $ hledger reg                     # use terminal width (or 80 on windows)
              $ hledger reg -w 100              # use width 100
              $ COLUMNS=100 hledger reg         # set with one-time environment variable
              $ export COLUMNS=100; hledger reg # set till session end (or window resize)
              $ hledger reg -w 100,40           # set overall width 100, description width 40
              $ hledger reg -w $COLUMNS,40      # use terminal width, and set description width

       The  register  command also supports the -o/--output-file and -O/--out-
       put-format options for controlling output destination and CSV output.

   stats
       Show some journal statistics.

       -o FILE --output-file=FILE
              write output to FILE.  A file  extension  matching  one  of  the
              above formats selects that format.

              $ hledger stats
              Main journal file        : /src/hledger/examples/sample.journal
              Included journal files   :
              Transactions span        : 2008-01-01 to 2009-01-01 (366 days)
              Last transaction         : 2008-12-31 (2333 days ago)
              Transactions             : 5 (0.0 per day)
              Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
              Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
              Payees/descriptions      : 5
              Accounts                 : 8 (depth 3)
              Commodities              : 1 ($)

       The  stats  command displays summary information for the whole journal,
       or a matched part of it.  With a reporting interval, it shows a  report
       for each report period.

       The stats command also supports -o/--output-file for controlling output
       destination.

   test
       Run built-in unit tests.

              $ hledger test
              Cases: 74  Tried: 74  Errors: 0  Failures: 0

       This command runs hledger's built-in unit tests and  displays  a  quick
       report.  With a regular expression argument, it selects only tests with
       matching names.  It's mainly used in development, but it's also nice to
       be able to check your hledger executable for smoke at any time.

ADD-ON COMMANDS
       hledger  also  searches  for external add-on commands, and will include
       these in the commands list.  These are programs or scripts in your PATH
       whose  name starts with hledger- and ends with a recognised file exten-
       sion (currently: no extension, bat,com,exe, hs,lhs,pl,py,rb,rkt,sh).

       Add-ons can be invoked like any hledger command, but there  are  a  few
       things to be aware of.  Eg if the hledger-web add-on is installed,

       o hledger -h web  shows  hledger's  help,  while  hledger web -h  shows
         hledger-web's help.

       o Flags specific to the add-on must have a preceding --  to  hide  them
         from  hledger.   So hledger web --serve --port 9000 will be rejected;
         you must use hledger web -- --serve --port 9000.

       o You   can    always    run    add-ons    directly    if    preferred:
         hledger-web --serve --port 9000.

       Add-ons  are  a relatively easy way to add local features or experiment
       with new ideas.  They can be  written  in  any  language,  but  haskell
       scripts  have  a  big  advantage:  they  can  use the same hledger (and
       haskell) library functions that built-in commands do, for  command-line
       options, journal parsing, reporting, etc.

       Here are some hledger add-ons available:

   Official add-ons
       These are maintained and released along with hledger.

   api
       hledger-api serves hledger data as a JSON web API.

   ui
       hledger-ui provides an efficient curses-style interface.

   web
       hledger-web provides a simple web interface.

   Third party add-ons
       These  are  maintained  separately, and usually updated shortly after a
       hledger release.

   diff
       hledger-diff shows differences in an account's transactions between one
       journal file and another.

   iadd
       hledger-iadd  is  a  curses-style, more interactive replacement for the
       add command.

   interest
       hledger-interest generates interest transactions for an account accord-
       ing to various schemes.

   irr
       hledger-irr  calculates  the  internal  rate of return of an investment
       account.

   Experimental add-ons
       These are available in source form in the hledger  repo's  bin/  direc-
       tory; installing them is pretty easy.  They may be less mature and doc-
       umented than built-in commands.  Reading and tweaking these is  a  good
       way to start making your own!

   autosync
       hledger-autosync is a symbolic link for easily running ledger-autosync,
       if installed.  ledger-autosync does  deduplicating  conversion  of  OFX
       data  and some CSV formats, and can also download the data if your bank
       offers OFX Direct Connect.

   budget
       hledger-budget.hs adds more budget-tracking features to hledger.

   chart
       hledger-chart.hs is an old pie chart generator, in need of some love.

   check
       hledger-check.hs checks more powerful account balance assertions.

   check-dates
       hledger-check-dates.hs checks that journal entries are ordered by date.

   check-dupes
       hledger-check-dupes.hs  checks  for account names sharing the same leaf
       name.

   equity
       hledger-equity.hs prints  balance-resetting  transactions,  useful  for
       bringing account balances across file boundaries.

   prices
       hledger-prices.hs prints all prices from the journal.

   print-unique
       hledger-print-unique.hs  prints  transactions  which  do  not  reuse an
       already-seen description.

   register-match
       hledger-register-match.hs  helps  ledger-autosync  detect  already-seen
       transactions when importing.

   rewrite
       hledger-rewrite.hs Adds one or more custom postings to matched transac-
       tions.

ENVIRONMENT
       COLUMNS The screen width used by the register  command.   Default:  the
       full terminal width.

       LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f.  Default:
       ~/.hledger.journal (on  windows,  perhaps  C:/Users/USER/.hledger.jour-
       nal).

FILES
       Reads  data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, time-
       dot,  or  CSV  format  specified   with   -f,   or   $LEDGER_FILE,   or
       $HOME/.hledger.journal           (on          windows,          perhaps
       C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).

BUGS
       The need to precede addon command options with  --  when  invoked  from
       hledger is awkward.

       When input data contains non-ascii characters, a suitable system locale
       must be configured (or there will be an unhelpful error).  Eg on POSIX,
       set LANG to something other than C.

       In a Microsoft Windows CMD window, non-ascii characters and colours are
       not supported.

       In a Cygwin/MSYS/Mintty window, the tab key is not supported in hledger
       add.

       Not  all of Ledger's journal file syntax is supported.  See file format
       differences.

       On large data files, hledger  is  slower  and  uses  more  memory  than
       Ledger.

TROUBLESHOOTING
       Here  are  some  issues  you  might encounter when you run hledger (and
       remember you can also seek help from the IRC channel, mail list or  bug
       tracker):

       Successfully installed, but "No command 'hledger' found"
       stack and cabal install binaries into a special directory, which should
       be added to your PATH environment variable.  Eg on  unix-like  systems,
       that is ~/.local/bin and ~/.cabal/bin respectively.

       I set a custom LEDGER_FILE, but hledger is still using the default file
       LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable,  not  just  a  shell
       variable.   The command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it.  You may
       need to use export.  Here's an explanation.

       "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid or  incomplete  multibyte  or  wide
       character" errors
       In order to handle non-ascii letters and symbols (like ), hledger needs
       an appropriate locale.  This is usually configured system-wide; you can
       also configure it temporarily.  The locale may need to be one that sup-
       ports UTF-8, if you built hledger with GHC < 7.2 (or  possibly  always,
       I'm not sure yet).

       Here's  an  example  of  setting  the  locale  temporarily,  on  ubuntu
       gnu/linux:

              $ file my.journal
              my.journal: UTF-8 Unicode text                 # <- the file is UTF8-encoded
              $ locale -a
              C
              en_US.utf8                             # <- a UTF8-aware locale is available
              POSIX
              $ LANG=en_US.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print   # <- use it for this command

       Here's one way to set it permanently, there are probably better ways:

              $ echo "export LANG=en_US.UTF-8" >>~/.bash_profile
              $ bash --login

       If we preferred to use eg fr_FR.utf8, we might  have  to  install  that
       first:

              $ apt-get install language-pack-fr
              $ locale -a
              C
              en_US.utf8
              fr_BE.utf8
              fr_CA.utf8
              fr_CH.utf8
              fr_FR.utf8
              fr_LU.utf8
              POSIX
              $ LANG=fr_FR.utf8 hledger -f my.journal print

       Note some platforms allow variant locale spellings, but not all (ubuntu
       accepts fr_FR.UTF8, mac osx requires exactly fr_FR.UTF-8).



REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger IRC  channel
       or hledger mail list)


AUTHORS
       Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2007-2016 Simon Michael.
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


SEE ALSO
       hledger(1),      hledger-ui(1),     hledger-web(1),     hledger-api(1),
       hledger_csv(5), hledger_journal(5), hledger_timeclock(5), hledger_time-
       dot(5), ledger(1)

       http://hledger.org



hledger dev                      January 2017                       hledger(1)
